Liam

What the fuck?

I turned her by the shoulders so she faced me. The light reflected on her hair, and I found myself fascinated with the way they bounced off her bare shoulders, my eyes tracing the smooth, exposed skin.

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” I stated plainly. If nothing else, I needed to make sure she understood that one thing.

This was why she was staying away?

“But you gave her…” She stopped, a frown marring her forehead. “The person you’re seeing, then,” she amended. Suddenly she pulled her eyes away, and they settled on the ground, as if she was unable to look at me.

I needed to set things straight, because for some reason, she had it twisted up in her head that I was with someone. “I’m not seeing anyone.”

Her blue eyes went back to me, and confusion swam in those depths. “But…”

Where the hell did she get that idea from?

“This why you’ve been avoiding me?” Then it occurred to me, “Did someone tell you that?”

“No,” she mumbled softly. “I saw you.”

This was fucking bizarre—in a town our size, the truth should be immediately obvious. Because it was the last thing I expected her to say, and it came out of left-field, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Bree, I don’t even remember the last time I took someone out on a real date. When?”

She looked embarrassed now, her cheeks slightly pink. It spread up to her neck.

Fuck. She was charming and sweet, and now she was cute.

“I don’t know. A week or two ago,” she said softly. She tugged at the handle of her purse again, her eyes sliding back to the exit like it was a lifeline. Like she couldn’t wait to get away.

Oh no you don’t.

Her shoulders stiffened, her lips pressed together. Then I realized that I hurt her when I’d laughed. That was the last thing I ever wanted to do.

I sobered, and said more gently, “I’m sorry, but that’s impossible. I’m not seeing anyone.”

“Are you calling me a liar?” Her eyes flashed, sparking with temper.

My Bree had a temper.

“No. I’ve just been too busy to even see anyone.”

“You gave her flowers,” she said in a small voice. “Yellow. They were beautiful.”

There was a timidity in the way she spoke that got to me.

I didn’t want her to feel that way ever again.

And it struck me what she’d meant, because now I remembered, and I understood what she was talking about. “She wasn’t my girlfriend. She was a good friend who came to visit. She’s engaged to an old colleague.”

If she thought they were beautiful, I was going to buy her lots. As much as she wanted.

“You’re not…” She frowned, as if she struggled to reconcile the new piece of knowledge to what she’d thought. “You’re not together?”

“No.”

She was silent for a minute, then she raised her eyes back up to meet mine. “Now I feel stupid,” she muttered.

“Don’t.”

She didn’t move from her spot. Her grip tightened on her phone.

“I should go,” she said, and it sounded like it was the last thing she wanted to do.

We jerked in surprise when the sliding door opened, and in a loud drunken slur, someone burst out, “Liam! Come here!”

Oh, you fucking idiot.

Pete, my friend who was a computer genius and who was now also completely drunk popped his head out, and his eyes squinted. He stopped. “Am I interrupting something?” He frowned, stumbling a little as he walked forward.

Bree bit her lip. When she spoke, her voice came out in a rush, almost panicked. “I’ll—I’ll leave you two. I really do need to go, I have an early morning tomorrow, so… Bye.”

Of course she’d use it as a chance to escape.

I was slowly learning more about Bree Carmichael, and I found I liked what I knew.

Now I had an answer to why she’d been avoiding me. She ran away, going back to her own safety net. Probably hoping I’d forget all about her ridiculous assumption.

Not gonna happen.

* * *

Bree

I bumped my head on the door a few times.

Maybe a few more times, and I could shake the stupid out.

He didn’t have a girlfriend.

I groaned, remembering what happened earlier when he told me he wasn’t seeing anyone.

I felt beyond silly. I jumped to conclusions and I avoided him because of it. And now… Now he knew.

My phone played out soft, jazzy music—Rona was calling. “Hey. I’m home,” I answered, phone between my neck and ear as I tugged my sandals off. I went straight to the kitchen to have my usual tea.

“So early?” Rona asked, surprise filling her voice.

“You’d call ten-thirty pm early.”

I told her about the party, except the part about Liam. It wasn’t important. I was sure nothing would come out of it anyway.

I covered my face with a hand, squeezing my eyes shut at the memory of him confused when he asked me about his non-existent girlfriend.

“I knew it!” Rona shrieked.

Wait… “What?”

“You met someone! Who?”

Was I that transparent? “Um… I didn’t say anything?”

She snorted. “Silence means hesitation,” she explained. “Hesitation means you’ve got something to share. So…spill.”

I rolled my eyes, even though she wouldn’t see. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Yet?” she added hopefully.

“Ro,” I said a little impatiently. The warning in my voice was dulled by a yawn I was unable to suppress.

“You had your tea yet?” she asked innocently.

“Nope. I will soon.” I was already heating the water. I knew better than to be lulled with a false sense of security.

“I won’t keep you from your beauty rest,” she teased. But I knew if I didn’t tell her now, she was going to be doing her own digging.

“It doesn’t matter about him,” I said, my voice softer. “It’s not gonna happen.”

“So there is someone.”

“We’re completely different.”

“I know two very different people who fought like no other and are now engaged.”

“He doesn’t want a relationship,” I reasoned.

“So?”

My own admission, in its ferocity and conviction, surprised me. “I do.”

Rona was silent for a moment. “You used to love those trips we did when we escaped Grandma’s when we were sixteen. We’d ride our bikes, not caring where we went, we just peddled.”

“Best times,” I said, remembering it with a bittersweet ache that made me smile.

“The most rebellious ones. You used to be scared to ride, do you remember?”

I remembered. I thought I’d fall. Rona taught me how to ride. I grew to love the feel of the wind on my skin, and the glorious feeling like I could conquer the world.

Her question had my mind spinning, and it would be a question that would be running in my mind the whole night.

“How would you have known where we’d end up if you’d never had the courage to get on it?”